Bosnian Serbs Apologize To War Victims In Bosnia

February 28, 2007 13:04 GMT

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Bosnian Serbs Apologize To War Victims In Bosnia

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(RFE/RL)
February 28, 2007 -- The government of Bosnia-Herzegovina's Serbian entity, the Republika Srpska, has expressed its deepest regret for crimes committed against Bosnia's non-Serbian population during the 1992-95 war.

An official statement today also said the Republika Srpska will make a maximum effort to bring to justice all those responsible.

The International Court of Justice ruled on February 26 that Serbia was not directly responsible for genocide in the killing of nearly 8,000 Muslims by Bosnian Serbs in Srebrenica in 1995, though it did rule that the killings constituted a genocide.

Meanwhile, Ivan Simonovic, Croatia's legal representative at the court, has suggested that his country might drop its lawsuit against Serbia after Serbia was cleared of involvement in the genocide in Bosnia.

Like Bosnia, Croatia also sued Serbia at the International Court of Justice for genocide committed during its 1991 war, when Serbia backed Croatian Serbs' armed rebellion against the country's independence from the former Yugoslavia.

Simonovic told the Associated Press he believes Croatia should try to achieve an out of court settlement.